Attention readers: Mark Shields is off this week. Please enjoy the following column by Jamie Stiehm.

WASHINGTON — It's a first in American history: The speaker of the House and the minority leader hail from the same state. But they barely speak.

Two Californias dwell and dominate in the House of Representatives. The party leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., live in diametrically opposed worlds within the same state: the blue coastal liberals versus the rural inland "empire," largely red.

I know, coming from California, that Pelosi and McCarthy perfectly reflect her San Francisco and his Bakersfield. They are connected by a long ride on Interstate 5, cutting through the heart of the state.

This tension is not the known Northern versus Southern California culture rift, but the deep political fault lines between East and West in the Golden State.

The twain are getting farther apart. Seldom have House party leaders so openly scorned each other. McCarthy refers to Pelosi as a "lame-duck speaker." The House is so evenly divided — a few votes apart — the balance of power could change in a few heartbeats.

The drama between Pelosi and McCarthy plays out in the full House over burning issues: the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and COVID-19.

After first stating then-President Donald Trump "bears responsibility" for directing the armed mob, McCarthy deflected blame from him, even suggesting the speaker was responsible for the spectacular security breakdown.

This was an unkind cut, given the pack was hunting her.

So, let's set the scene between the two players. Days ago, Pelosi was overheard saying McCarthy is "a moron" in the thick of summer heat and partisan battle.

McCarthy then told donors Sunday it would be "hard not to hit" Pelosi with the speaker's gavel if he captures it. Very nice to threaten violence.

This fits his smug fraternity guy persona, one who can't stand a woman — 81 to his 56 — blocking his path to that precious gavel.

The man from Bakersfield is craven in pursuit of that speaker's (majority) gavel, willing to say about anything, however uncivil or uncouth.

McCarthy was bitter, perhaps, that Pelosi outwitted him on selecting members for a committee to investigate the storming of the House and Senate chambers — and whether it was orchestrated by Trump. He picked five Republicans. One was notorious Jim Jordan of Ohio, a vehement Trump supporter.

Pelosi nixed Jordan and another aggressive critic of the investigation, Jim Banks, R-Ind. Furious, McCarthy boycotted the committee, which he opposed in the first place.

That left two House Republicans willing to serve on the committee. Pelosi named Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. McCarthy may throw more shade and political revenge their way, but for now they have some high ground in the House, if not in their caucus.

Less becoming was a press conference McCarthy gave with a throng of anti-masker members of Congress. On the Capitol's east steps, the aggrieved Californian ripped Pelosi's decision (based on medical advice) to mandate masks on the House floor again in light of the raging delta variant.

Before the House adjourned for August recess, a brigade of McCarthy's maskless members, including the flinty Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., marched over to the Senate chamber in a ploy to call attention to their pandemic plight. I ran right into them, a breathless moment because I was in the building on Jan. 6.

Amusing that the Senate was too busy working on infrastructure to entertain the House callers.

Pelosi, once the Baltimore mayor's daughter, brings an artful skill to dealings with diverse Democrats and foreign leaders alike. She stays ahead of the Senate by a country mile, passing progressive bills such as the Voting Rights Act.

As a history major, I enjoy her keen grasp of Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and woman suffrage leaders.

McCarthy may be speaker someday, but that's all he wants. His ideas for the greater good are not nearly as clear as his raw ambition.

It's not complicated: McCarthy feels he needs Trump for that end. So, as he shamelessly shifts ground, he's handing the scheming former president power over the 2022 election.

On a lighter note, Pelosi and McCarthy are both good-looking. They could play themselves in a movie. This is California, after all.

Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To read her weekly column and find out more about Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.

Photo credit: Free-Photos at Pixabay